Palutena
"My X-ray specs allow me to see your ignorance!" - Palutena in Chapter 17 of Kid Icarus: Uprising. Background Information Palutena (パルテナ Parutena) is the beautiful goddess of light, rightful ruler of Skyworld, the patron deity of Pit and the Centurions, and the guardian of humans. She is kindhearted and benevolent, as opposed to the cruel and malevolent Medusa. Despite being a divine goddess, Palutena also seems to be somewhat of a damsel-in-distress, as she was imprisoned and held captive by Medusa and needed to be rescued, but recently she has been given a much more active role as a major supporting character as Pit's greatest ally. Characteristics Appearance Palutena has the appearance of a 22-year old woman with green eyes, very long green hair reaching down to her lower legs, and is around 178 cm (5'10") tall. She has an overall very elegant and regal appearance fitting her title as the goddess of light. Her main outfit is a relatively Greek-styled white dress with a chiton-like cloth over it held by her golden necklace that acts like a fibula/brooch, heart-like patterns and a red trim at the top, golden vambraces, sandal-like heels with a tall one on her left leg and a long white sock, numerous gold ornaments to accommodate it, along with a split to her thigh on the right side held by a red fibula. Interestingly, many of Palutena's design choices has parallels to Pit's, such as the gold laurel crown, red fibula, the vine-like patterns on the hems of her dress, brown-colored, sandal-like footwear, and the various gold accessories. She is typically depicted wielding her weapons of choice which is the gold staff with a blue handle and a mirror shield. In Kid Icarus, she wears a blue and yellow dress with a blue and gold tiara, a red necklace, and gold shoes. In-game it shown red and white. In Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, she wears a white dress with a petticoat, along with a gold tiara. Noticeably, her hair is much shorter. Personality "Because, of all creatures, humans are closest to the gods. Gods cannot intervene in mankind's affairs." - Palutena's stance on humans. Palutena is generally a very kind and wise character (at least compared to most gods). She is shown to care about the human race and will go to great lengths keep them safe from harm. She was willing to banish her own co-ruler, Medusa, in order to stop the goddess of darkness from attacking and killing the mortals. Although she may be the guardian of the humans, it is important to note that Palutena does not view them as flawless beings, in actuality, she views them as quite selfish and destructive. However, she believes the gods are no better than humans when it comes to fulfilling egoistic desires or ideals, or in some cases, she believes gods can be far worse. Palutena also appears to be the only god to realize and admit to this when Dark Pit points it out. Ironically, this might be why she firmly believes humans are the closest to the gods and sees them worth protecting. One very notable trait of the goddess of light is her outstanding wisdom, as she is one of the most knowledgable within the pantheon. Other characters have commented on her as being very smart or a "know-it-all". Palutena uses her vast proficiency to let Pit know enemies' weak points, and give other useful information and tips to him. She is also quite sharp and not easily fooled. The goddess is typically the first to notice any subtle changes that occur, including contradictions and inconsistencies in anyone's statements or situations. Palutena quickly noticed the number of Underworld troops didn't decrease, despite the Mirror of Truth being destroyed. She also found it suspicious that Thanatos avoided her question of why he didn't outrank Medusa. And later with Hades scheme with the Wish Seed, the goddess once again found out first that the seed was just a pile of lies. However, her great wisdom appears to have made her slightly arrogant, as Palutena sometimes refuses to admit to mistakes when being corrected by Pit. Palutena has a very close relationship with Pit and shares a very strong bond with him, with which he returns with undying loyalty. Despite her mature appearance, she has been shown to have a very playful and mischievous side. Palutena often teases Pit, and even exploits his absolute fidelity by purposely putting him into dangerous situations in order to complete missions. One time, she purposely put pheromones all over Pit as a way to attract one of the wandering Hewdraw heads. These actions may make Palutena come off as unfriendly towards Pit, but it is obvious she does genuinely care for her angel. She frequently asks him if he's alright after sustaining injuries, and is always grateful for his service and properly thanks him where it is due. Palutena became filled with utter sorrow when the power of flight burnt off Pit's wings while trying to save Dark Pit and was willing to cheat death to bring him back. Palutena is also noticeably more merciful compared to the other gods, as she would try to peacefully reason with her enemies first than use outright violence. She gave Medusa a final chance to retreat her army from the Overworld, and when Viridi started to attack humanity, Palutena attempted to persuade her out of it. She also tried to convince Arlon to joining her side to work together against the Underworld Army. The goddess has a minor quirky side, as she has a habit of mixing up common phrases, such as in one of the tutorial videos for Uprising she erroneously calls Super Smash Bros. as "Super Bash Sisters". The goddess also has a knack for using large, complex vocabulary that confuses Pit. Similar to her angel, she appears to have a large appetite as she talks about how delicious octopus is during the Space Kraken fight, and omelettes later when mentioning Phoenix eggs. Despite her young looks, she is sensitive when it comes to the topic regarding her age and strongly dislikes being called “ma’am”. Abilities Despite her playful personality, Palutena proves to be a powerful goddess. As the goddess of light, she has great power over the element, and is capable of performing potent magical abilities utilizing light, such as energy blasts, columns of light, and a bright flash of light used by her Mirror Shield to blind opponents. One of her most powerful attacks is called the “Glam Blaster” / ”Sacred Goddess Clobberlaser”, which involves a giant beam of vaporizing light that can disintegrate enemies. She is also the one who supplies Pit his Power of Flight and all his other powers. In Smash Smash Bros. 4, Palutena is capable of using these powers in combat herself. During battle, she uses levitation as a key method of getting around. Like most deities, she possesses some degree of omniscience (even claiming to have an all-seeing “Eye of Palutena”). For example, in Chapter 2 of Uprising, she demonstrates her godly insight regarding Magnus's past that he lost a child in the war and was close friends with Gaol despite him never mentioning this at any point. Palutena's vast knowledge allows her to know names and weaknesses of almost every enemy in the series. Palutena has typical abilities shared by other gods such as telepathic communication and summoning large projections of herself. Some other powers of Palutena mentioned in Uprising and the anime shorts include the “power of cooling”, "power of weak-point exposure", “power of ninjary”, “power of caging”, and “power of maelstrom". The Palutena Bow and Silver Bow are two weapons that are explicitly stated to be created by the goddess of light herself, indicating Palutena has some prowess over weapon crafting. The Goddess of Light is also capable of powerful telekinesis as shown in Chapter 18 where she tosses large pieces of Skyworld itself at Pit. She also has the ability to put curses on others, as she was the one who cursed Medusa with her monstrous form as punishment. Role in CC In CC, she is one of the members of the Council of Gods.Category:Characters